The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-14
NUMBER 81.
Earning $4,000 a Year.


Much has been said in the way Of criti-
cism 10y the advocates Of assessment life
insurance, of the supposed high salaries
paid the officers of the larger regular life
! insurance companies. One of their boasts,
and. indeed, one of their lxnock-down ar
/ guments, is that I'VE don.'t nav bis, sal
| aries. Ii IL not matter of surnris.,
! that the regular companies should nav
their officers more than the assessment
companies of small income and long
! name. In the former case these Of
| ficials have the control and investment
of large reserves. amounting in some cases
Ia nearly or quite 800, 900, 900. The
| care of such vast sums demands men of
brains and character, and for such q, AZ
titles proportionately high salaries must
be paid. When we bear in mind that i'm
addition 10 this financial branch of the
business the life insurance president has
the management of "A business i'm many
cases exceeding in magnitude that of the
most extended railway system, inyolV-
ing questions of scientific. financial and
commercial law of the first importance,
II VIII he quite plainly understood that
men of high caliber must be obtained
for the purpose. The salaries of the
leading insurance. banking and railroad
officials arenot out of proportion to the
responsibilities entrusted to their keep
ing.
Ii is said that Thomas ]. Potter. Vice
President and General Manager of the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Rail
road, has been receiving a salary Of $50
600 year. Ii is further reported that
as general manager of the Union Pacific
Railroad he has signed contract for
five years at an annual compeItSation of
Sooop These figures to some May ap-
pear 10 be enormously beyond the ability
of any man To return AN equivalent in
time of work. To others the larger of
these sums will feel small when the RE-
sponsibility of the position is fully con
sidered. IL is an affair of daily occur
renee, 50 common that no attention is
paid To 1t, for an employs to receive n
salary of : 900 year for superintend-
ing the management of a business whose
aggregate for "A year may fall below 500
900. There are many men who receive
$1,000 "A year for directing "A business
whose volume does not in ths course of
year reach $4,000. Mr. Potter, as the
executive head of the Union Pacific
Railroad, will be the direct representa-
tive of "A corporation whose capital stock
runs up into the millions of dollars.
An insignificant per cent. of this enor-
nous aggregate pays his salary of &5O,-
OOOa year. II he has the ability To handle
nlililOnS OF uOllafs III suCh way lllhl "a
satisfactory profit is returned 10 the
stockholders, then his salary is small In
comparison with that of another officer
who i'm controlling the same business.
fails To make the receipt overbalance the
expenses. IL is from this standpoint
that the services of the great railroad
manager must be measured. There are
very few men capable Of graspinh the
details of a large business, and they are
therefore in a position 10 command large
compensation. At the same time
the stockholders Of the corporation iudi-
viduallypayingn no more for the services of
Mr. Potter than some vastly smaller bus
mess house or factory Is paying for its
superintendent, who receives a salary of
81 900 "A year. There aIe those who con-
tend that no man can earn $50 900 a year
by honest work. This would he true IL
the work were confined to digging
bitches or to holding plow. There are
thousands who can do ordinary kinds of
work. and stand ready to do IL for day
laborer's wages. There are few men en-
dowed 10y nature with the genius of di-
recting the affairs of AN immense con-
cern successfully. Herein lies the diff
ference